


In for a Penny

by asofthesea



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, AKA my kryptonite, BAMF Pepper Potts, Deaf Clint Barton, Gen, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-15 21:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21025307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asofthesea/pseuds/asofthesea
Summary: 5 times Tony referred to Peter as his kid/son +1 time Peter called Tony 'Dad"Prompt: Peter referring to Tony as hid Dad to other people and/or Tony referring to Peter as his son to other people.





	In for a Penny

**Author's Note:**

  * For [imgoingtocrash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/imgoingtocrash/gifts).

> This was also posted on my tumblr, which is asoftheesea!

“You met Stark’s kid?”

“What?” Steve asks, turning to look at the archer, one brow raised, “I didn’t know Stark had a kid.”

“To be fair, none of you knew I had kids or a wife, either, but we’ve been gone for a while. Maybe he found out when you were traveling the world and I was forced to spend time with my family.”

Steve rolls his eyes. The Avengers had recently been pardoned and were being allowed to stay at the compound. Things had been tense, so Steve had done his best not to push Tony. Tony had been keeping his distance from him, so if he did have a kid, Steve would have no clue.

“How do you know Stark has a kid?”

Clint shrugs, “Not totally sure, but he talks about a kid a lot, and I’ve seen some items lying around that are only explained by a teenager, trust me.”

“Why a teenager? How long has he been hiding this kid?” Steve had lived with Tony in the tower for years and never once suspected that he had a child.

“Well, there was some advanced textbooks and random clothes lying around Tony’s lab that aren’t his and certainly aren’t Pepper’s. He doesn’t let just anybody in there, you know. Maybe he just found out about the kid recently, he never has been good at keeping secrets, one of us would have sniffed it out sooner.”

Clint does make some good points. None of the pardoned Avengers were allowed in Tony’s lab unless he invited them down there, which he never did.

“Well, I’ll have to pay more attention, I guess,” Steve says, “or maybe he’ll just tell us.”

“Yeah right, if he was gonna tell us, he would’ve done so by now.”

Steve agrees with Clint, but knows that they can’t push Tony when things are still so shaky between them. He’ll just have to try to figure it out for himself.

**1**

“Has anybody seen my other hearing aid?”

“How do you keep losing those, aren’t they supposed to stay in your ears?” Tony asks.

“Even with only one ear working, I can clearly hear the judgment in your voice,” Clint remarks.

Steve shakes his head at the antics of his teammates. They have started to get more comfortable around each other as they spend more time together. It’s a slow process, but one he’s willing to see through.

“No one’s seen your hearing aids, Katniss,” Tony rolls his eyes, “I don’t have time to help you look, either, I’ve got places to be.”

“Where’s that?” Steve can’t stop the question before it leaves his tongue. He hadn’t meant to intrude or accuse Tony of anything, but the man still looks taken aback by his question.

He can tell Tony is considering his answer before he says, “My kid’s got an award ceremony that he asked me to attend. I couldn’t say no to that, could I?”

Howard was a horrible parent, and Steve wonders if he ever declined an invitation like that from Tony. Maybe Tony is trying to be better for his kid than Howard was for him. When he knew him, Howard was a good man, but he turned out to be a terrible father.

“I guess not.”

**2**

“What did you say was wrong with these?”

“When I activate the trigger, it pulls up and makes me miss my target,” Natasha tells Tony.

Tony smirks, “That’s what you get when you don’t use Stark Tech, show me.”

Natasha heads over to the practice range and shoots a couple of shots from her blasters, each missing by just a bit.

“It can work, but it’s not ideal,” Tony notes, “I can work on them today and have them ready for you sometime tomorrow. FRIDAY, we don’t have any plans for tomorrow, do we?” Tony asks as he sets the blasters on the lab table.

“No plans on Thursday except for your lab session with your child,” FRIDAY confirms.

Tony smiles, “Great, I’ll have these upgrades done, and these should be fully functional and you can stop by to pick them up at two.”

“In the morning or the afternoon?”

“Har, har, I will be sleeping at two in the morning, Natasha. Two in the afternoon is just fine, but not much later, I got stuff to do after that.”

Even though she heard FRIDAY, she asks, “Which is?”

“Got my son coming over,” Tony states bluntly.

“Oh, I wasn’t aware you had a kid,” Natasha masks her surprise.

“Well, it’s actually,” Tony stops for a moment before saying, “It’s kind of a new thing. I would appreciate it if you didn’t go spreading it around quite yet.”

Natasha nods, “Of course, I’ll see you tomorrow for my blasters.”

**3**

Tony may have made a stupid decision when he told Natasha that Peter was his son. In his defense, he couldn't exactly tell her that Spider-Man was a teenager who was coming over to work on his suit. That was why he didn't have Peter's name in FRIDAY'S system and had her refer to him as his kid.

Sure, he liked to think of what it would be like to be Peter's father when he was lying awake at night. That was all it was though, something to keep his mind occupied when sleep evaded him. Peter didn't need a father, he needs Iron Man to keep him safe with a suit and watching his back. Tony could do that.

As he walks to the dining area, he sees most of the Avengers around the table, ready to eat supper.

"Would you like to join us?" Steve asks and flashes him that perfect smile with his stupid, perfect teeth.

He can't really decline the invitation so he accepts and sits between Sam and Clint.

"So Tony, what are you working on in the lab?" Sam asks.

"Well I just finished some upgrades for Nat, but I'm starting on a project with, um-" he looks around the table. He can't say Peter's name, Rhodey is the only one here who knows him. Well, he already started one lie, might as well keep his story straight, "with my son."

Rhodey catches his eye and shakes his head, bemused at Tony. Natasha already knew, so she's quiet, but everyone else seems shocked.

"Are my hearing aids on, did I hear that right?"

"Since when do you have a kid, Stark?" Wanda asks.

Steve seems to only be able to say, "Oh."

"I was not aware you had offspring," Vision adds.

“You heard that right, I do have a son,” just saying it makes Tony giddy, which he does his best to hide from his team. Of course he thinks of Peter that way, but saying it out loud is a completely different thing. Peter doesn’t need a father, he has May, but maybe Tony wants a kid. He doesn’t want any kid, he wants Peter. Peter is great.

Sam nods, “Do you want to tell us about him?”

“No,” Tony says politely but firmly. The conversation switches topics and Tony is glad for the focus to be shifted off of Peter. He wants to tell the team about Peter, he really does, but the whole point of saying he was his son was to keep Peter safe.

“Hey Wanda, could you pass the salt?” Tony asks.

The salt is in his hand in a matter of seconds, remnants of the red energy quickly dissipating. The sight of it doesn’t fill him with dread and fear like it used to. He is beginning to finally relax around his team again, Peter is safe, life is good.

**4**

Life was going good, until he was woken up in the middle of the night.

“Boss, there is a situation,” FRIDAY’s voice wakes him up.

Of course, the other occupant in the room was woken up as well.

“What’s going on, Tony?” Pepper asks, rubbing her eyes as she wakes up.

“FRIDAY, what is it?” he asks. She sends the info to the tablet on his bedside which he quickly grabs. He scans the info to see that it is Spider-Man, Peter. He is already calling his suit before he has even stood up.

“Can’t you just stay in bed, Tony?” Pepper asks.

If it was anything else, he might have actually considered it. Pepper rarely asked this of him, but he can’t stay when Peter needs help.

“It’s my son,” slips out of his mouth before he realizes who he’s talking to. Pepper has no idea that he’s been referring to Peter as his kid.

“Peter, then?” she asks, failing to hide the smirk on her face.

“Don’t give me that look.”

She shrugs, “What look? I just think it’s sweet that you think of Peter that way.”

Tony hesitates for a moment, “Really? You don’t think it’s weird?”

Pepper’s opinion means more than anything in the world to him, so he waits to hear her response, “No, it’s not weird. He’s a good kid and you’ve been looking out for him. It’s only natural that you’d feel protective of him and feel that way. No come here and give me a kiss, then go save your son.”

He does as he’s told and kisses his wife before he leaves to go save his kid.

**5**

“What were you thinking?”

“That’s a trick question, Mr. Stark, I know the answer, I wasn’t thinking,” Peter says proudly.

Bruce chooses this moment to enter their room in Medbay, “Good news, I’ve got the blood work back. Peter’s going to be just fine. The drugs that entered his system will pass with time and have no lasting effects. Just keep him resting and attached to the IV and he will recover quickly.”

Tony runs a hand down his face, it’s been a long night. When he got the notification that Peter was in danger, he was worried about what had happened to Peter. Now that he knew the kid would be okay, he finally felt like he could calm the hell down.

“Thanks, Bruce, for making sure my kid’s okay,” Tony says sincerely.

If Peter heard Tony, he makes no indication that he understood him. Peter is as high as a kite. His attention span is absolute shit.

“Why is the room floating?” Peter asks.

Bruce smiles, “I think I’ll leave you to deal with him. I’ll be back in the morning to check on him and run some more tests.”

Tony nods in thanks as Bruce leaves. He sits on the edge of Peter’s bed and replies, “The room isn’t spinning.”

“Pretty sure it is.”

“Whatever you say, kiddo.”

He grabs Peter’s hands and pulls them away from his IV, “How about we lay down?”

Peter hums and lets Tony guide him to lay down. He closes his eyes, “Thank you for taking care of me.”

Even though he knows Peter won’t remember it, he still says, “Of course, you’re my kid.”

**+1**

“Why don’t you think he hasn’t told us more about him?” Tony overhears Steve ask. He decides to hang out in the hall and listen to their conversation for a few minutes.

“I don’t know,” Sam pipes in, “but I’m sure he has his reasons, we should stay out of it.”

“Okay, no need to act all high and mighty,” Clint adds, “I get that Tony doesn’t want to share about his kid, why do we have to pry?”

“You just agreed with me, then why did you insult me, dude?” Sam questions.

Natasha says, “If Tony wants to tell us more, then he will. If he doesn’t, we can’t take it personally. He is probably only keeping him a secret to protect him, same as Clint did with his family. Being in our life comes with a lot of risks, he’s probably just trying to guard his son from that.”

Natasha, ever the voice of reason. The reason he lied about Peter’s true identity was to keep him safe. Tony does want to shield Peter from it all, but he is already so deep in the superhero life.

Tony decides enough is enough and enters the room. The conversation quickly changes topics as Tony heads over to the coffee pot for only his second cup of the day.

As Tony is nursing his cup of coffee, Peter walks in and sits down at the island in the kitchen. He must not have noticed the Avengers in the living area in open view, or else he would have been freaking out. Peter thought he hadn’t seen his Avenger pajamas, but he did.

“So, Dad, what are we gonna do today?” Peter asks as he gets out his homework. He knows that he has to get his homework done before they hang out.

Tony is still stuck on the whole ‘getting called dad thing.’

Peter looks up at him expectantly, waiting for an answer.

Tony might have pointed out to Peter his mistake if all of the Avengers weren’t eavesdropping (and he didn’t secretly love it). As things were, Tony played it cool.

“I was thinking maybe we could go get some ice cream then stay up and watch those movies you are always going on about,” he says in the most nonchalant voice he can muster, which is not at a nonchalant.

“You mean _Star Wars_? I’ve been trying to get you to watch those movies for weeks, why suggest it with no prompting now?” Peter asks, completely dumbfounded.

Tony wants to say _because you called me ‘dad’ and I really liked that and I want to celebrate_, but instead he shrugs and says, “We deserve a break.”

Peter’s smile stretches across his whole face as he agrees, “Yeah, we do, Dad.”

Tony could get used to this whole ‘dad’ thing.


End file.
